Brief
Presentation
Le Chœur Les Rhapsodes / The Rhapsody Choir, Québec, Canada: A Brief Summary
By way of introduction to Le Chœur Les Rhapsodes or The Rhapsody Choir, the following words were expressed by Karen Kain, C.C., Director of the Canada Council for the Arts, in May 2007 prior to the Rhapsodes' presentation of its concert titled, "Romantik", at the new, Palais Montcalm in Quebec City.
“Every year, Le Chœur Les Rhapsodes concludes its series of dazzling concerts with virtuosity and passion. Over many years now, Le Chœur Les Rhapsodes has invited the public to discover works drawn from world-wide and Canadian (musical) repertoires…..The Canada Council for the Arts, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, hails the talent, excellence and polyvalence of this choir, which is directed so skilfully by David Rompré (Translated from French).
On this encouraging note, we offer you a brief summary of whom and what we are all about.
Le Chœur Les Rhapsodes of Quebec City was created in 1962 and incorporated on May 22nd, 1968, in Quebec, as a non-profit organization with the following mission: 1) to establish and maintain a choir to sing and train its members in choral music; 2) to give public concerts and encourage the art of choral singing in all its facets; 3) to edit and publish its musical scores and arrangements. Amongst its artistic objectives are to offer at least three different concerts annually of a capella or orchestral and choral ensemble music drawn largely from international western classical, folkloric and modern contemporary compositions and scores (- sung in their original languages).
Although the generally, 65-voice, mixed choir is made up mainly of French Canadian Quebecers, it has been enriched by other Canadian singers of Irish, English, German, Russian, Swiss, Spanish, Polish, Belgian, Italian and Ukrainian cultural backgrounds (Other Diaspora is welcome to join the choir). About 1/3 are males and 2/3 females, and ages range from about 18 to 70. New members are recruited and auditioned annually, but about half of the choir are regular stalwarts who, to a great extent, are responsible for its success. Weekly, Thursday night, as well as, extra, intensive weekend, choir practices are mainly held on the campus of the Université Laval, at the Faculté de musique.
The choir's activities, orientations and finances are managed by an Administrative Council of nine (9) Administrators headed by a President - all volunteers - who are drawn from and elected annually by the choir members. Although it is the Music and Artistic Director that is responsible for setting the choirs music and artistic orientations, he is also an “active observer” in the monthly Administrative Council meetings. Of course the choir could not function without a volunteer support staff. Currently, it is made up of ten (10) choir members. Except for the Music and Artistic Director, all the above are volunteers, as well as, being choir members.
As with most artistic ventures, balancing the books and trying to break even are never easy. This too is done by volunteer Administrators. Dues make up less than 10% of the choirs operating costs. All other monies come from ticket sales, government grants (Québec CALQ; Placements Culture, Canada Council for the Arts; City of Quebec), sale of CDs, tapes, T-shirts, pins, etc., sales of business publicity in the Concert Programs (about 20 pages & offered free), as well as, gifts from generous choir members and private donors.
In December 2003, the choir created two financial funds: la Fondation du Chœur Les Rhapsodes and the Fonds Allen A. Petryk pour le Chœur Les Rhapsodes which are managed by the Fondation communautaire du grand Québec. Donations are welcomed to help assure the choir’s future.
Marketing and Communications are the responsibility of all the choir members but, in particular, the Administrators. Publicity is made through personal contacts, newspapers, flyers and announcements on CBC Radio-Canada, 106.3 FM (in French) and CBC Radio 104.7 FM (in English). Single tickets (ca. $20-26) and annual subscriptions (ca. $37-40) can be purchased through the Billetech ticket office at www.billetech.com.
Concert venues have in the past been mainly the beautiful historic churches in Quebec City like the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur de Québec and the Église Saint-Dominique, adjacent to the historic Plains of Abraham. However, since March 2006, the choir has chosen the magnificent, Salle Raoul-Jobin in the newly restored, Palais Montcalm in the heart of Quebec City to be its principal concert venue.
The Rhapsody Choir is a "labour of love". The only "nominally paid" individuals in the choir are the Music and Artistic Director and the different professional soloists and instrumentalists that are engaged for our concerts. Other costs or expenses include insurances, auditing fees, venue rentals, stage platform and piano rentals, transport and truck rentals, musical scores, audio and lighting, recording engineering, etc.
The choice of themes and the selection of music for concerts productions are mainly made by the Music and Artistic Director and his Music Committee in collaboration with the Administrators. Musical scores are provided, at cost, to all choir members at the first choir practice of each season (Christmas, Easter and Spring).
All records and recordings that relate to Le Chœur Les Rhapsodes inc. meetings, activities, publicity, budgets, etc. are archived for historical reference. Copies and recordings of all the musical scores that have been sung by the choir are kept in our "Musicothèque" or Music Library. The distribution of the choir's own scores is assured by l'Alliance des Chorales du Québec. A custom computer program makes for easy access and research of its contents. A Rhapsodes compact disc, CD record released by Analekta, both in Canada and the U.S.A. and titled, "Noël* Christmas* Weihnachten* - Christmas' Greatest Songs" (in French, English and German), has sold more than 10,000 copies to date!
The Rhapsodes benefit from and are associated with the following associations: Québec Musica, the Opéra de Québec and the Conseil de la culture de la région de Québec or the Cultural Council of the Quebec City region. The choir has created the Amitiés Rhapsodes Internationales (ARI) or The International Rhapsodes Friendships to help maintain vital ties with former choir members.
The Rhapsodes mainly serve the Quebec City metropolitan community by bringing to it great music of the world sung in various languages. But, we welcome any proposition for cultural exchanges both inside and outside of Canada. In these fast paced, "globalizing" times, such exchanges are important to help educate and to create understanding and harmony between peoples of what is now often referred to as the “global village”. We hope to be a part of this important process. Thanks to the language abilities of certain choir members and friends, we hope in future to translate and diffuse this summary into different languages and when possible, reply to questions in different languages. Your interest in and comments on our activities are much appreciated and encouraging. If you would like to ask, say or propose anything to us, please write to us at communications@lesrhapsodes.com or telephone us at (418) 688-3118.
"Thank you for your interest and the Best of Musical Wishes to you!"
(This brief English summary was first written by Allen Petryk, in July 2003 and updated in September 2007).